Middle East Near You

Israel to build 25,000 new settlement units in Jerusalem

The illegal Ramat Shlomo settlement, located on Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem, seen on December 29, 2016 [Daniel Bar On / Anadolu Agency]

April 29, 2017 at 10:24 am

For two years, the Israeli government has been planning to build 25,000 new settlement units in Jerusalem, an Israeli minister with knowledge of the plans revealed on Thursday.

Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant told the Israeli television Channel 2 on Thursday that his ministry had been discussing the plan with Jerusalem’s Jewish municipality for two years.

He stated that 10,000 settlement units of the 25,000 are to be built in West Jerusalem, the part of the holy city occupied in 1948, and 15,000 were to be built in East Jerusalem, the part of the holy city which was occupied in 1967 and which the Palestinian Authority hopes will be the capital of its future state.

Yesterday, Galant reiterated his comment on Israeli radio as he said:

We will build 10,000 units in [West] Jerusalem and some 15,000 within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem [East Jerusalem].

Stressing that this settlement project, which is planned to house only Jews, will go ahead whatever the Palestinian or international pressure was, he said: “It will happen.”

Speaking to Channel 2, Galant said that this project would be officially announced during the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to Israel at the end of this month.

Trump is visiting Israel during the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in the early 1980s. The international community does not recognise this annexation.

Galant said that this project worth four billion shekels ($1.1 billion).

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